Title - Loco factories to be built on PPP basis

Railways' two proposed locomotive factories at Marhaura (diesel) in Saran and at Madhepura (electric) are to be built on public private partnership (PPP) basis. Railway minister Mukul Roy has given his nod to the two long-pending projects.According to a Railway Board official, the Cabinet committee on economic affairs had approved the two locomotive factories in 2007 itself. But work on these two factories has not started so far. He said railways is likely to shortlist bidder for these two factories through international committee bidding (ICB) in July or August this year.According to sources, railways would require about 2,000 electric locomotives annually for both passenger and goods trains by 2015-2016. It has been introducing several pairs of passenger trains across the country every year. The two proposed factories at Madhepura and Marhaura would meet the requirements of railways in future, sources said. A board official said railways would complete these factories in about 36 months from the date of agreement with private firms. While an electric loco manufacturing factory at Madhepura would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,294 crore, the diesel loco factory at Marhaura is to be built at a cost of Rs 2,025 crore, he said.

According to the board official, since railways has been carrying out work on two separate East and West freight corridors for free movement of goods traffic at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore, these two loco factories would help it cope with the huge demand for locomotives. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently reviewed railway projects and stressed on completing these two projects on priority basis, the official added. At present, railways has two locomotive factories located at Varanasi (diesel engine) and Chittraranjan (electric engine).